Billionaire Gautam Adani has said the decision to withdraw a fully subscribed share sale of the flagship firm of his group was primarily because of volatility in the market.

Adani Group company stocks have lost over USD 90 billion in value since a US short seller made damning allegations.

Adani Enterprises Ltd's Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer managed to get investors on the last day of the share close on Feb 1. Late on Feb 1 , the company decided to withdraw the FPO and refund the investors.

The decision, he said, will not have any impact on existing operations and future plans.

Under-fire tycoon Gautam Adani's empire has lost more than $100 billion in value over the past week as shares in several firms plunged again feb 2 , a day after the group cancelled a multi-billion-dollar public offering.

The billionaire's sprawling conglomerate has been thrown into turmoil following explosive allegations of accounting fraud on January 24 by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.

Flagship firm Adani Enterprises dived 14 per cent -- having lost almost 30 per cent Wednesday -- and has now halved in value since the start of the year.

Other listed companies of Adani's business empire were subject to trading halts after falling as much as 10 per cent at the open in Mumbai.

Among them is Adani Total Gas -- in which French oil major TotalEnergies holds 37.4 per cent -- which has now lost 52 per cent since January 1.

Further panic has seen big banks including Credit Suisse and Citigroup stop accepting Adani bonds as collateral for loans to private clients.

The latest selling pressure came after Adani late  feb 1 cancelled a $2.5 billion stock sale that was meant to help reduce debt levels -- which have long been a concern -- and restore confidence by broadening its shareholder base.

But the issue failed to attract "mom and dad" retail investors and only sold out thanks to large institutional buyers, fellow Indian tycoons and $400 million from the United Arab Emirates' IHC.

In a year when the Indian athletes will compete at the Asian Games and prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Sports Ministry has got a fillip with the government allocating Rs 3,397.32 crore, an increase of Rs 723.97 crore, in the Union Budget.

The amount is more than the revised budget of the previous financial year (2022-23) when the ministry received Rs 2,673.35 crore, as against the actual allocation of Rs 3,062.60 crore.

The ministry's flagship programme, 'Khelo India -- National Programme for Development of Sports' continues to be the government's priority, with it being allotted Rs 1,045 crore as against the revised allocation of Rs 606 crore during the previous financial year.

This is an increase of Rs 439 crore and points to the government's commitment to the programme, which over the years, has shown the potential to produce athletes for major global events such as the Olympics, Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.

The Sports Authority of India (SAI), which takes care of organising national camps for athletes, providing infrastructure and equipment to athletes, the appointment of coaches and maintaining sports infrastructure, among others, has seen a Rs 36.09 crore increase in its budgetary allocation from the previous year's revised expenditure of Rs 749.43 crore. Their allocation for 2023-24 stands at Rs 785.52 crore.

The National Sports Federations (NSFs) have received an increased allocation of Rs 45 crore, from the previous year's revised budget of Rs 280 crore and will now get Rs 325 crore.

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), affiliated with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL), which earlier received funding from SAI, will now get it directly.

A provision has been made in this year's budget to provide NADA funding of Rs 21.73 crore, while NDTL, which conducts the tests, will receive Rs 19.50 crore.

Q1. The Light Combat Aircraft-Tejas to be at centre stage of 'India Pavilion' at Aero India 2023  in

1. Bengaluru
2. Mumbai
3. Gwalior
4. Chennai
5. None of These

Q2. Name the Indian-American Congresswoman who has been named Ranking Member of the powerful House Judiciary Committee's panel on Immigration, making her the first immigrant to serve in a leadership role for the subcommittee ?

1. Farah Pandith
2. Rashida Tlaib
3. Pramila Jayapal
4. Tulsi Gabbard
5. None of These

Q3. Name the Kerala journalist  who was booked by the Uttar Pradesh goverment under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) after being arrested while on his way to cover the Hathras gangrape in 2020 and who  has been released from jail after he was granted bail ?

1. Kafil Khan
2. Siddique Kappan
3. Mohammad Zubair
4. Rana Ayyub
5. None of These                                                                                                                    

Q4. What amount has been allocated to the Sports Ministry in the Union Budget 2023 -24 ?

1. Rs 297.32 crore
2. Rs 1,493 .12 crore
3. Rs 2,433.42 crore
4. Rs 3,397.32 crore
5. None of These

Q5. The term budget is derived from ---------word Bougette.

1. German
2. Greek
3. French
4. Greek
5. None of These

Answers

1----------------1   Bengaluru

2----------------3 Pramila Jayapal

3----------------2   Siddique Kappan

4----------------4   Rs 3,397.32 crore

5-----------------3 French

Even as unease continues in the state due to the sinking of land in Joshimath, Uttarakhand got a reason to cheer on Jan 30. The state’s tableau bagged the top spot for the first time at the Republic Day Parade this year. The tableaux of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh stood second and third, respectively.

The Army’s Punjab Regiment Centre contingent was declared the best marching contingent among the three services, while the Indian Air Force won the first spot in the online public poll conducted by MyGov. From among Central Armed Police Forces(CAPF) and other auxiliary forces, the Central Reserve Police Force was named as the best marching contingent.

A prominent Hindu temple in Brampton in Canada has been targeted with anti-India graffiti, causing outrage among the Indian community.

Condemning the act of vandalism at Gauri Shankar Mandir, the Indian Consulate General in Toronto said the defacing of the temple has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Indian community in Canada.

The temple, which is a symbol of Indian heritage, has been left vandalised with hate-filled messages directed towards India.

The Canadian authorities are currently investigating the incident.

The defacing of the Hindu temple in Brampton is not an isolated incident, with at least three similar acts of vandalism recorded in Canada since last July.

New Delhi had urged the Canadian government to properly investigate the incidents.

Statistics Canada, the country's national statistical office, has reported a 72 per cent increase in hate crimes targeting religion, sexual orientation and race in Canada between 2019 and 2021.

Trial courts across the country imposed 165 death sentences in 2022, which is the highest in a single year in the last two decades, a report has said. Also, 539 prisoners were on death row by the end of 2022, which was the highest since 2016 and the number of prisoners living under death sentence saw an increase of 40% since 2015, the report added.

The report titled ‘Death Penalty in India, Annual Statistics Report, 2022’ was released by Project 39A of the National Law University.

Two people were injured and as many Sikh men were detained when two separate brawls broke out between Khalistani activists and pro-India demonstrators during the so-called 'Punjab independence referendum', the police said.

India has already asked the Australian government to curb the anti-India activities of the Khalistani separatists and also attacks on the Hindu temples in the country.

Two men were treated for minor injuries by paramedics on the scene as the police at Federation Square broke up two brawls between crowds during the voting for the referendum.

The 2021 census found there were about 210,000 Sikhs in Australia - up from 130,000 in 2016 - with almost half this cohort living in Victoria.

The number of Hindus in Australia grew from 440,300 in 2016 to 684,000 in 2021.